Kyle Petty Quotations

When you've lost a son, there's no price you can put on safety for the driver.

What happens is the guys on the team hear what is going on, and it affects what they are doing. It can be a pretty big demoralizer. Sure, drivers come and go, but telling your crew that you'll be gone in 16-17 months can affect a lot of things between now and the time of your New Year's Eve party going into 2007.

We're putting the band back together. We weren't going in the right direction, but I think that's about to change.

With these two working together, it'll take Petty Enterprises to another level, ... My job -- and it's been made clear to me by Robbie -- is to sit my butt in a race car and drive it and keep my mouth shut.

Maybe this will put the dreaded Intrepid thing to rest. Maybe the Charger is the way we need to go.

I am a little wary about wearing this Gators jersey in Tennessee territory. I covered it with a coat walking in here so I didn't get shot or something.

From a company standpoint, the 43 is important. It has to win. That's who we are. That's who we'll always be. For longevity and for what we need, we need the 43 to win.

If Adam was here, I probably wouldn't be driving today.

He has talked to the 0 and he's probably going to go to the 0, ... I applaud that. I told him that when you're our age, the way everybody's looking for 19 year olds, if a car opens up, jump in it. Jeff said he didn't want to leave us high and dry, but I told him to protect himself.

We can make tires safer. We can make walls safer.

Having Tony's support has been huge for Victory Junction. He was one of the first drivers to get on board with us, and beyond the money he and his foundation have donated to the camp, he's brought notoriety, which has helped fuel interest in the camp. It's just one more example of how when we're on the track we're fierce competitors, but off the track we're all united in trying to improve the lives of others, especially children. I've always admired his charitable work and it's an honor to have him as a part of the Victory Junction family.

I run 20-25 miles during the week ... but you really watch what you eat, I think that's the main thing.

Our focus has to be the 43 car because that's our brand. That's who we are. In a day and time when everything is marketing, we can't afford to let that brand go away.

I'm happy, but not surprised. We ran good down here last year.

The problem isn't necessarily the driver signing a contract in August of 2005 to race for another team in 2007,

We're excited about the prospects, but are we 100 percent set with the 45 car? ... No, we're not ... and that leaves us with the 43 Dodge, and the issues we have with Jeff Green, who has done a great job for us.

This sport is probably more competitive than any other professional sport, ... When you get behind on some things, getting caught up again is tough. We've struggled with things for a while, but we've never given up on making it better and getting back to running up front and winning races.

The demand was really for the night race. You could always get tickets to the day race up here in the spring. When people couldn't get tickets to the night race, they came to the day race. TV did a lot for the night race. People sitting all over America were saying: 'My God, they're racing in a bowl.' They were used to Daytona and Charlotte. I think it's the curiosity as much as anything.

Why do I like racing? I was too lazy to work and too chicken to steal.

We've just got to start building some stuff to get better.

When we looked at it, we'd made very little progress over the last four or five years. We weren't going in the right direction, so we had to look outside our own circle.

We had a great, great run, ... I can't really complain. We've struggled all year. To come here and have a good run was good for us.

This was basically a tire-management race. I know some teams had issues, but we never had any problems.

Both cars had a good day, and Bobby drove his tail off. I think he's got something to prove.

Consistently running second or third gets you a championship every year in our series. That hasn't changed. You can talk about the Chase all you want, but . . . you're still going to get people who have a shot at the championship or are in the top 10 who haven't won races. There's nothing wrong with that.

A driver that you have to sell on safety shouldn't be driving. I don't want to drive with somebody that's crazy enough to throw caution to the wind. These guys that drive out here are professionals and they understand the consequences of every action they make on the racetrack.

Anything can happen here at Bristol, and when it happens it happens quickly. That's why it's hard to avoid wrecks. We just don't have enough time to slow down or make a move around them. You have a car spin . . . it can collect three or four other guys and block the track.

This is the greatest marathon I've ever seen.

There's always only five or six guys, maybe seven or eight guys that can win. There's another 15 or 20 that can slide in and win. When you look at the consistent guys, I'm only going to pick the standard seven or eight.

There?s always only five or six guys, maybe seven or eight guys that can win.

It's a runaway. In 10 races, it can be close, but it also can be a blowout. And a blowout in the Chase is like watching San Francisco score four touchdowns against San Diego in the first 3½ of the Super Bowl. Nobody stayed for the second quarter.

It's no secret that I love driving sports car and especially racing in the Rolex 24. Brian has been generous enough to let me share this ride, and it's pretty cool to have Boris as a teammate as well. Boris is a tremendous road-racer and he has proved he can win in anything he races. Brian is a competitor, too, but more importantly, he's just a great guy. I'm excited about this weekend.

For all the Dodge Dealers out there, maybe this will put that dreaded Intrepid thing to rest. All the Dodge teams have worked hard to get better, so maybe the Charger is the way we need to go.

Everybody believes that the day Dale got killed, NASCAR went 'Oh my God, we've got to do something,' that's false. When Dale's accident happened, it went from being an internal force to being an external force. They were already proactive before the accident.

Stock car racing wasn't exactly a part of everybody's household back then, especially since it wasn't on TV a whole lot early in his career. But, everywhere we went, people knew who he was. He was The King - and he still is.

It was a night race when nothing else was a night race,

It's where we need to be as much as anything else.

I'm not sure anyone has ever done it there before.

In a lot of ways it's just like wine. It's aged very, very well. I just think everything about the place has gotten better.

I like driving the 45, ... That's the car I want to quit racing in.

I had to be the only child in this country who ever called his father 'The King.'

If you asked me four or five years ago I'd have said it wasn't important (to have a proven winner). If you asked me three years ago, I'd probably have said it was a little more important and if you asked me last year I probably would have said it's critical.

I never thought I had to live up to Richard Petty, ... I never had to live up to anything but what I expected.

can't be penalized enough for doing that, money, points, everything.

I am pleasantly surprised that the teams have gelled like they have to be able to come down here and have two cars that are as competitive as they are right now. I'm pleased with that.

It doesn't matter what you do, if you love what you do, then you don't sweat the little things. You just don't pay attention to them. Then when the big things come along, they're never as big as what they seem to somebody who doesn't have a passion for it and doesn't really love it.

Faith is believing that there's somebody there to make you stronger. There's somebody there that won't leave you alone; God's always standing by you. That's what that is.

I just loved the driving part. If I didn't race anybody, it didn't make any difference as long as I could drive. It's just the physical part of getting in the car and being able to go run fast and being able to drive.

That's what faith is - that belief that there's somebody there that's going to help you and push you and be that person that is there for you when you're in your deepest, darkest moment.

The only part I miss about driving is driving. That's it. I don't miss all the other stuff that goes along with it, all the other PR stuff. Anybody, when they quit driving, they miss the driving part.

I don't think political correctness doesn't make any difference. Once that's in your DNA, you don't pass an ordinance or pass a law or all of the sudden change your DNA.

Jack Roush is the only guy that could keep Matt Kenseth from winning races.

When someone's got your rear tires off the ground, you don't have much traction.

I think faith is the one common denominator between everything that goes on at the race track - a faith in Christ.

You know, when Arnold Palmer came on TV with an old tractor and told me to buy Pennzoil, I bought that, and when Dale Jarrett advertises UPS, I can go along with that, too. But I don't think having an 18-year-old, somebody who's probably gotten five packages in his life and they were all 'Girls Gone Wild' videos, tell me what delivery service I should use would have much effect on me.

The truth is, the longer it goes, the harder it gets.

We lost one child and we gained ten thousand children.

Family is the most important thing. Family starts with your wife and your kids.

Speed is relative. Does it feel fast going 70 miles per hour down an eight lane highway? No, probably not, but I bet it does if you are going down some single lane dirt road. It's the same in a race car. It depends on the track.

You had life by the tail and didn't know it.

Why did I take up racing? I was too lazy to work and too chicken to steal

You know, that's a hard question. You can't say the sport expanded too quickly, because it didn't expand at all for 45 years. Was Japan a stretch for us, running an exhibition race there? Yeah, I think it was. Was Mexico a stretch? Hmmm ...

The driver that you have to sell on safety shouldn't be driving.

The issue we were not going to get into was like when we put ourselves into a box with John Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi a couple of years ago, ... We wanted to keep three teams but we didn't have a sponsor. We went out and hired a driver but we couldn't find a sponsor for the team ... but had to pay a driver for a couple of years that we didn't have a car for. We're not going to put ourselves in that position again.

The loss of a child is totally different because it's contrary to nature, ... When it happens, you question everything you've ever known.